Land Ark:Isn't it strange that the farther away were get from the Cold War, the more the US government acts like the Soviet government?

This. The level of surveillance the the US gov does on its citizens is staggering.All internet traffic (web, mail, everything) is fed to them.They have hooks into every major web site to track your activity (google, online shopping etc)They have feeds on your phone calls and all the geo-data for tracking you location.

Even the East German Stazi were not as invasive as your government keeping an eye on its citizens.

You know, after reading what the FBI said, I notice what they did NOT say.

They did not say "We do not have a copy of that file for it to be hacked" they said "There is no evidence the file was obtained from us". It would appear that they do have that file but they are saying it cannot be proven to be hacked from them...

"The FBI is aware of published reports alleging that an FBI laptop was compromised and private data regarding Apple UDIDs (unique device IDs) was exposed," according to an FBI spokesperson. "At this time there is no evidence indicating that an FBI laptop was compromised or that the FBI either sought or obtained this data."

They didn`t say "We did not obtain the data" they said "There is currently no proof we sought or obtained the data (but there might be proof tomorrow)" which is completely different.

sminkypinky:Land Ark: Isn't it strange that the farther away were get from the Cold War, the more the US government acts like the Soviet government?

This. The level of surveillance the the US gov does on its citizens is staggering.All internet traffic (web, mail, everything) is fed to them.They have hooks into every major web site to track your activity (google, online shopping etc)They have feeds on your phone calls and all the geo-data for tracking you location.

Even the East German Stazi were not as invasive as your government keeping an eye on its citizens.

sminkypinky:Land Ark: Isn't it strange that the farther away were get from the Cold War, the more the US government acts like the Soviet government?

This. The level of surveillance the the US gov does on its citizens is staggering.All internet traffic (web, mail, everything) is fed to them.They have hooks into every major web site to track your activity (google, online shopping etc)They have feeds on your phone calls and all the geo-data for tracking you location.

Even the East German Stazi were not as invasive as your government keeping an eye on its citizens.

Land of the free my ass!

Semi-Godwin aside, I'm thinking that if they had the tech back then, they'd have probably been just as invasive, if not more so.